Who’s Peter Thiel, and what’s his crypto treasury technique?

Peter Thiel has quietly established a big footprint in crypto treasuries by backing firms that put money into Ethereum. This strategy provides him important oblique publicity to the cryptocurrency’s progress whereas staying aligned together with his broader enterprise capital technique.

Peter Thiel, finest generally known as the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, approaches crypto publicity by means of an oblique path. As an alternative of merely shopping for Ether (ETH) on steadiness sheets like Saylor does with Bitcoin (BTC), Thiel’s play is to take important stakes in firms that remodel themselves into Ether-treasury autos. This technique provides him publicity to ETH’s upside whereas embedding his capital in companies that may rally markets.

Thiel, by means of his funds, has backed firms like ETHZilla and BitMine Immersion, each of which later grew to become Ether-holding entities.

ETHZilla, previously Nasdaq-listed 180 Life Sciences, introduced a $425-million non-public funding in non-public fairness deal to construct an Ether treasury and received approval to situation one other $150 million in debt securities. Electrical Capital will handle its onchain yield applications. 

BitMine, in the meantime, has raised tons of of thousands and thousands to amass greater than 1.52 million ETH price $6.6 billion, together with 373,000 tokens added throughout Ether’s newest resurgence. By investing in these companies quite than shopping for Ether immediately, Thiel captures each fairness upside and crypto-treasury publicity. This is similar uneven playbook he used with Fb and Palantir.

For Thiel, the preliminary selection of Ether over Bitcoin was strategic. By concentrating on ETH-treasury companies, he positions himself within the ecosystem the place new monetary infrastructure is being developed. In his view, this provides Ether larger long-term optionality than Bitcoin’s store-of-value mannequin, making ETH-treasury bets extra enticing as uneven investments.

Do you know? Peter Thiel co-founded Bullish, a cryptocurrency alternate that launched in 2021 and was valued at greater than $7 billion on the time. It raised $1.1 billion in its preliminary public providing and goals to transform a lot of that into stablecoins, indicating an institutional treasury shift towards crypto-native liquidity methods.

Who’s Michael Saylor, and what’s his crypto treasury technique?

Michael Saylor has turn out to be the face of company Bitcoin adoption, turning a once-ordinary software program firm into the world’s greatest BTC treasury automobile.

Michael Saylor is the chief chairman of Technique (beforehand MicroStrategy), a US tech firm that shifted its focus in 2020 to turn out to be the most important company Bitcoin holder. Since then, Saylor has adopted Bitcoin as a reserve asset and hedge in opposition to fiat inflation.

Saylor’s technique is straightforward but daring: use fairness and most popular inventory choices and occasional debt to lift capital that’s then transformed into Bitcoin. 

In accordance with BitcoinTreasuries.web, as of August 2025, Technique holds roughly 629,000 BTC, which is almost 64% of all public-company treasury holdings. The corporate continues to increase its holdings by means of rigorously timed purchases, even throughout value volatility.

Guided by Saylor, Technique maintains a gentle accumulation coverage, financing it by means of progressive instruments similar to at-the-market fairness gross sales, perpetual most popular inventory and convertible debt. 

To have a good time 5 years of Bitcoin adoption, the corporate bought over 585 BTC for $69 million in August 2025 alone. These steps point out Saylor’s staunch dedication and capability to construct an organization steadiness sheet round Bitcoin as a structural asset, even when market situations appear unclear.

Treasury strategic bets in contrast: Thiel vs. Saylor

At first look, each Michael Saylor and Peter Thiel are chasing the identical endgame: utilizing crypto as a treasury reserve technique to generate long-term worth. But their strategies and the ecosystems they’ve chosen couldn’t be extra totally different.

Saylor’s Bitcoin accumulation has turn out to be nearly mechanical. MicroStrategy raises capital by means of fairness dilution, convertible notes and even perpetual most popular shares earlier than steadily channeling it into Bitcoin.

Regardless of holding shut to three% of the overall provide, the corporate’s technique doesn’t rattle markets. Executives say its reliance on over-the-counter desks retains slippage low and avoids value shocks. The end result is a treasury mannequin that feels predictable, clear and constructed for many years of regular accumulation.

In distinction, Thiel’s Ether wager is constructed on a special basis. He views ETH as programmable capital — type of a gas for functions, sensible contracts and tokenized markets. 

His technique includes figuring out underpriced or underutilized firms, backing them financially and inspiring them to pivot into Ether treasury fashions. 

Somewhat than betting solely on ETH’s shortage, Thiel is tying his publicity to Ether’s position in broader institutional adoption, the place tokenized finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure might seize new capital flows.

One fascinating implication is liquidity. Saylor’s BTC is locked away on Technique’s steadiness sheet, immovable besides by means of future asset gross sales. Thiel, nonetheless, can exit or increase positions by shifting fairness stakes in ETH-treasury companies. 

That flexibility makes his publicity extra dynamic but in addition riskier: Firm valuations are tied not simply to ETH costs however to company governance and execution.

In observe, each methods create ripple results. Saylor’s relentless shopping for has normalized the thought of companies holding Bitcoin as a main treasury reserve. Thiel’s Ether pivots at the moment are setting an identical precedent on the ETH facet, exhibiting that public firms can restructure themselves solely round crypto holdings. 

The place Saylor demonstrated scale and conviction, Thiel is demonstrating agility and innovation.

Who’s making smarter crypto treasury bets?

When evaluating Peter Thiel’s and Michael Saylor’s treasury methods, the distinction is as a lot about philosophy and execution as it’s about sheer numbers.

Each Thiel and Saylor have sizable positions within the crypto market, however they obtain publicity in essentially alternative ways, creating distinct threat‑reward profiles.

Peter Thiel’s technique in focus

Thiel’s “strategic agility” permits him to seize uneven upside with out holding ETH immediately:

• Capital deployment flexibility: Thiel can deploy giant capital shortly into firms exhibiting upside potential post-pivot, benefiting from coordinated token accumulation and inventory value rerating.
• VC background: Thiel’s VC background permits him to search for companies with optionality, scalable upside and the potential to compound features if ETH turns into extra embedded in monetary rails.
• Oblique publicity advantages: Dangers embody reliance on administration execution, thinner liquidity in some targets and lack of direct management over token reserves. The upside, nonetheless, is avoiding direct custody or regulatory publicity to ETH itself.

Michael Saylor’s technique in focus

Saylor’s strategy benefit comes from course of and consistency, not from market timing or speculative performs:

• Value-averaging: Common purchases easy out value volatility, making a long-term accumulation benefit.
• Layered financing: Utilizing fairness, most popular shares and convertible debt to sustainably fund new purchases, even when the corporate’s market-to-net-asset-value premium (mNAV) drops.
• Scale and transparency: The mannequin is extremely seen to traders, regulators and the market, signaling confidence and dedication to BTC as a treasury reserve.

Whose crypto treasury bets are smarter? 

Saylor’s power is in constructing reserves utilizing market dips and clear capital frameworks. It’s a play for long-term accumulation and balance-sheet power.

Thiel’s benefit lies in strategic agility: Smaller companies, larger potential return on funding and oblique publicity that will outperform if ETH demand and reserves surge.

For a scalable, clear, long-term treasury build-out, Saylor’s mannequin is stronger. For higher-beta, venture-style upside driving macro momentum in Ether, Thiel’s strategy might yield outsized returns.

In the end, the distinction is obvious: One technique is about constructing an impregnable fortress of reserves, whereas the opposite is about driving waves of institutional realignment.